Water jet propelling apparatus for boats



Sept. 9, 1969 L. cAsTol-nl 3.465,705

WATER JET PROPELLING APPARATUS FOR sons Filed March 20. 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTO Sept. 9, 1969 LUIGI CASTOLDI 3,465,705

WATER JET PROPELLING APPARATUS FOR BOATS Filed March 20, 1968 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR- 401;, (a M,-

United States Patent O 3,465,705 WATER JET PROPELLING APPARATUS FORBOATS Luigi Castoldi, 161 Viale Mazzini, 20081 Abbiategrasso, ItalyFiled Mar. 20, 1968, Ser. No. 714,473 Claims priority, applicationItaly, Mar. 29, 1967, 14,288/ 67 Int. Cl. B63h 11/02 U.S. Cl. 115-12 6Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A water jet propelling apparatus, forboats, comprising a water pump to force water through a nozzle directedastern of the boat for propelling the boat in a straight forward course,rudder blades located at either sides of the jet for laterally deviatingsame under steering control, and a jet reversing gate which can belowered under reverse control for reversing the thrust, said gate havinglaterally deflecting parts associated to its sides and positioned sothat a portion of the jet, when laterally deviated by steering of saidrudder blades, impinges on said deflecting part, forms a lateral jetprojected toward the side at which said rudder blades have been steered,and provides a lateral thrust causing the boat to rotate about itsyawing axis and boosting the steering control thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a water jetpropelling apparatus and especially to a class suitable to be fixedlysecured to the transom of the boat hull. The invention is mostlyapplicable for shallow draught boats.

Water jet motors and units are now being widely applied to the field ofmedium and in particular of small boats. In this method of propulsion,the boats engine drives a water pump which forces water, at suitablyhigh volume and pressure, through a nozzle directed astern of the boat.In the nozzle, the mass of water is accelerated and the thrust reactiondrives the boat forward. The boat can be steered by directing the jet ofwater. Such water jet motors, both inboard and outboard, are well knownand further discussion thereabout is unnecessary. This invention isparticularly concerned with variou problems concerned with steering andcontrolling of boats provided with water jet propelling motors of theinboard type. Steering of boats provided with water jet motors ofoutboard type does not generally involve serious problems because themotor-water pump-nozzle assembly consists of one unit steerably securedto the boats transom, and the water jet is directed by controlledlyrotating the entire unit about a nearly vertical axis. To move the boatbackward, a reversing gate is generally mounted so that it can becontrolledly moved and positioned to cause the jet to impinge thereonand then be forwardly deflected thereby, the rotation of the unit aboutsaid axis allowing boat steering in reverse. On type of such outboardwater jet motor has been detailedly described in the U.S. Patent No.3,082,732, for example.

Such simple mode of steering the boat can obviously, not be used whenthe boat is provided with a fixed or See inboard type water jetpropelling apparatus. Such type of apparatus, while highly desirable forits reliability of service and several other well known reasons,requires sidewards deflecting means linked to the steering wheel forcontrolledly deflecting the water -jet to either sides. Manyarrangements of parts have been heretofore proposed, lbut severaldeficiencies in the present day water jet propelling inboard motors andunits exist. Said deficiencies are, among others:

(a) Provision of one or more steering plates or rudders in the stream ofwater jet, within or astern of the nozzle; such provision leads todisturbance and turbulence of the jet, spoiling the propelling thrustthereof;

(b) Generally poor steering response at low boat speed and in theoccurrence of small forward thrust; such poor steering is particularlyobjectionable because short radius steering is especially desirable whenlow speed maneuvers, such as to dock or moor, are to be performed;

(c) Poor or even null steering of the boat in reverse;

((1) Problems related with linking between steering wheel and water jetsideward deflecting means, in relations with steering response andsensitivity of the boat to steersmans action. In general, too manyrevolutions must be imparted to the steering wheel for promoting a lowspeed short radius turn. A link which would not lead to said deficiencyshould lead to a seriously objectionable overcontrolling of the boatwhen accelerated to high speed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of thisinvention to provide an improved water jet propelling apparatus which isnot subject to the above and other objections and deficiencies.

More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a newand improved water jet propelling apparatus for boats, of the typecomprising a not steerable nozzle fed by a water pump driven by a motoror engine which can be throttled bythe helmsman and fixedly secured tothe boat hull to provide a water jet directed astern of the boat in orparallel to the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the hull, rudder meansfor sidewardly deviating the jet in response to an action exerted on thesteering wheel (or other steersman operated steering control means), andgate means for forwardly deflecting the jet in response to an actionexerted on a reverse lever (or other steersman operatable reversecontrol means), and wherein the improvements comprises the provision ofside-thrust boosting means associated with said jet deflecting means toboost under steerman control the side thrusts promoted by acting on thesteering control means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved waterjet propelling apparatus as above, wherein said boosting means comprisefurther sidewardly deviating parts structurally associated with saidgate means, whereby the amount of the further sidewardly deviated waterfrom the water jet can be controlled by the steersman by acting on thereverse control means and on the motor-throttle means, irrespectivelyofthe actual longitudinal (forward or reverse) thrust reaction appliedto the boat.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedwater jet propelling apparatus as above, which is of simple and sturdyconstruction and reliable in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in features, combinations and arrangementsof parts and details of construction and operation as more fullydescribed and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming a part of this disclosure, wherein like numerals refer to likeparts therethroughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 shows alongitudinal sectional view of an apparatus improved according to thepresent invention, comprising the Water pump, nozzle, jet deviatingmeans, jet deflecting gate means and water deviation boosting means, foran inboard motor propelling unit;

FIGURES 2 and 3 fragmentary illustrate the nozzle and the steersmancontrolled water jet influencing means in longitudinal horizontalsectional views taken as indicated by IIII and respectively III-III inFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary side view of the apparatus of FIGURE 1, withits water jet reversing gate means in- DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THEPREFERRED EMBODIMENT For clearer understanding of the invention andconsistency of terms, as this description proceeds and in the appendedclaims the following expressions will be made use of to mean:

Deviation and to deviate will indicate the sideward deviation (in ahorizontal plane) of the water jet, such as exerted by conventionallyarranged and operated rudder-like plate means adapted to impart adiscrete lateral angulation to a water stream impinging thereon;

Deflection and to deflect will indicate an action leading to asubstantial sideward modification (in a horizontal plane) of the path ofthe jet stream or of a part thereof, not exerted by said rudder-likemeans; and

Reversion and to reverse will indicate an action leading to asubstantial forwardly modification of the water jet or of a partthereof, in a vertical plane, such as exerted by a conventionallyarranged and operated reversing gate.

In FIGURES 1 and 4, there is shown a screw-propeller type water pump,generally indicated at P, conventionally drivenly connected to aninboard engine (not shown) and arranged within a suitably shaped ductformed within the casing of a water jet propelling apparatus, generallyindicated at G, fixedly secured to the boat transom and having an outletconsisting of a nozzle U having a given width and cross-sectional area.Said pump, duct and nozzle means are quite conventional and can beconstructed in several different manners, according to the art to whichthis invention appertains, together with the inlet or scoop vane orvanes (not shown) required for ensuring suflicient delivery of water tothe pump.

The above briefly indicated means are adapted to provide and issue aWater jet astern of the nozzle, the axis of which is contained in or isparallel to (in the case that the boat is provided with tWo propellingdevices, for example) the longitudinal vertical plane of symmetry of thehull. For simplicity, the invention will be herein described assumingthat the propelling device is located in said plane.

It will be readily evident that such assembly, apart from the featuresand components which Will be discussed hereinbelow, is capable ofproviding an undeviated and undeflected water jet adapted for forwardlypropelling the boat along a straight course. The propelling power willbe proportional to the product of the mass by velocity of the water jet.Such product will be hereinbelow indicated by the approximate but moreevident expression jet power. Such jet power can be conventionallycontrolled and modified by the steersman, by acting on the conventionalengine controls, such as the throttle lever with which motorboats areconventionally provided.

Astern of the nozzle outlet, two rudder-like deviating blades 10' and10" are arranged and pivotally supported for rotation about vertical ornearly vertical axes contained within or adjacent to the forward orleading edges forming portions 14 and 14" of rudder blades 10 andrespectively 10"; said rudder blades are vertically arranged in parallelrelationship at starboard and at port side, respectively, of the waterjet issuing from the nozzle, at an interval D (FIGS. 2, 3 and 6) whichis preferably slightly greater than the width of said jet, so that, whensaid rudder blades are parallel to said jet also, the accelerated waterwill not frictionally engage the infacing surfaces of said blades andthe jet power will not be prejudiced.

Said rudder blades are suitably concurrently linked to the steersmancontrolled steering control means, such as a conventional steering wheel(not shown). The linking means can comprise, for example, a sprocketchain 16 in mesh with sprocket gears 18 secured to the upper end of eachrudder shaft 20 (indicated by phantom lines in FIG. 1) rotatablysupported on hubs secured to or integrally formed with the propellingapparatus casing, for example.

In FIGS. 1, 4 and 7 to 10 there are shown rudder blades 10' and 10"having a straight horizontal lower edge located at the lower level ofthe nozzle. If desired, such rudder blades can be shaped so that lowerportions thereof will more deeply protrude into the water beneath thejet for acting in a quite rudder fashion into the water on which thesped-up boat can skid. Such downwardly protruding rudder portions can bemade of rubber-like or resilient material. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 7to 10, a horizontal rearwardly protruding plate is arranged above thejet and the rudder plates, said horizontal plate being secured to orintegrally formed with the said propelling apparatus casing.

The apparatus is further provided with a reversing gate assembly,generally indicated at 12, having a vertical plane of symmetry commonwith the vertical plane of symmetry of the water jet producing assembly.As far as the water jet reversing to forward is concerned, thearrangement and the operation of said reversing gate is old and wellknown in the art, as described in the US. Patent No, 1,700,913 (gate 9)for example. Said reversing gate 12 has generally a curved configurationin its vertical longitudinal sections, forming an arc having its centrein the axis of pivots 28 (FIG. 4) by which said gate is supported forrotation about said axis to the propelling apparatus casing, braces 26being provided to connect the gate structure to said pivots.

Said reversing gate is arranged for rotation from its fully raisedposition shown in FIG. 7, wherein the water jet is undisturbed by thegate, to its fully lowered position shown in FIGS. 4 and 10 for reverse.It is suitably linked, by means of a connecting rod such as indicated at30, to conventionally constructed and arranged steersman controlledreverse control means, such as a reverse lever (not shown).

The said reversing gate 12 comprises a central portion 22 theforward-facing surface of which is symmetrical and perpendicular to thevertical plane of symmetry of the nozzle. Preferably, such surface hasthe shape of an arc of a cylinder having its axis common to the axis ofpivots 28.

Such shape is however not critical, the criticality residing in thesymmetry of such surface, so that an undeviated water jet impinging(completely or partially) on said surface, will be reversed withoutpromoting formation of unbalanced side thrusts, that is so that loweringof said reversing gate into an undeviated water jet will not lead to amodification of the boat straight course or heading, both forward or atreverse.

The width or transverse dimension of said central portion 22 is equal toor slightly greater than the interval D between said rudder blades 10'and 10". At both sides of said portion 22 two symmetrically shaped waterdeflecting surface forming parts 24' and 24 are arranged. Such parts arepreferably but not critically fixedly secured to or integrally formedwith said portion 22. and generally to and respectively with thereversing gate structure. Said parts 24' and 24" are shaped to provide,in their cross-sectional configuration shown in FIGS. 2 and 6,sidewardly water deflecting concave faces adapted to cause a substantialsideward deflection, preferably at or near to a right angle, of anywater stream caused to impinge thereon. The said cross-sectionalconfiguration is preferably but not critically uniform in the fullheight of the said parts and of the reversing gate.

In addition, the said rudder blades 10' and and 10" preferably shapedfor nearly precisely confining the space therebetween and wherein thewater jet is directed to impinge on the central portion 22 of thereversing gate, for preventing that a substantial part of theaccelerated water impinges on said deflecting parts 24' and 24", whensaid rudder blades are positioned in their central position, that is theboat is steered for straight course either forward and the reverse.

In view of above the trailing edges 32' and 32" of said rudder blades 10and respectively 10" are shaped according to an arc of circularconfiguration, having its center in the axis of pivotal connection (at28 FIG. 4) of the reverse gate, so that a small clearance is formedbetween said trailing edges and the forwardly facing surface of saidcentral portion 22 of the reversing gate, as evident in particular fromthe showing of said FIG. 4.

OPERATION OF THE IMPROVED APPARATUS From the above and by aconsideration of the accompanying drawings the operation of the improvedapparatus will be readily understood, as hereinbelow discussed. Therewill be considered first the aspects of the apparatus, which are commonin the art, and its basic controls. Briefly recalling back to saidaspects, the apparatus can be considered as comprising a motor drivenwater pump and nozzle means capable of providing a water jet adapted forpropelling the boat in a forward straight course, jet deviating ruddermeans capable of modifying said course and jet reversing gate meanscapable of reversing said course, each said means being individuallyunder steersmans control.

Therefore, there are three control means which can be individually actedupon by the steersman, to obtain three corresponding basic actions, asfollows:

(I) Engine control (namely: the throttle lever) by which the steersmancan control and adjust the power of the jet'as actually issued from thenozzle; this is the basic speed control also;

(II) Steering control (namely: the steering wheel) by which thesteersman controls the course and the heading of the boat, and causesthe boat to perform turns of the desired radius, within certain limits;this control acts by laterally deviating the water jet, so that itsreaction provides a transverse component of the propelling force, thatis a side thrust; and

(III) Reverse control (namely: the reverse lever) by which the water jetis caused to partially or totally impinge on the reversing gate; thelowering of said gate can be adjusted so that the horizontal componentof the jet reaction can be decreased down to zero and then reversed.

This latter control may be assumed to be an ancillary speed controlalso, as being capable of adjusting the value of said horizontalcomponent, which represents the actual propelling force.

The improved apparatus of the invention is designed to provide and makeuse of each of said basic controls and also of certain new coordinatedmaneuvres resulting from a new coordination of said basic controls.

INDIVIDUAL BASIC CONTROLS AND EFFECTS Assuming that the reversing gate12 will be fully raised as shown in FIG. 7, and the rudder blades 10'and 10" will be maintained parallel, the course of the boat will bestraight forward as the water jet is undeviated and undisturbed asternof the nozzle. The speed of the boat is subject to engine control (I)adjustment only. The small arrows in FIG. 7 indicate the water streamfrom the nozzle, and the big arrow A vectorially indicates the jetpower.

Acting on the steering control (II), the water jet is laterallydeviated, principally by the inwardly deviated rudder blade (the rudderblade 10" of FIGS. 3 and 5) and the boat is caused to take a turn theradius of which is nearly inversely proportional to the rudder bladeslateral inclination or rotation about their nearly vertical pivotalaxes. The individual action on the steering control (II) is typical forcontrolling and adjusting the boat heading and course, when the boattravels at its cruising or higher speed, and in general when no sharpturns or abrupt maneuvres are to be performed at substantial speed.

In consideration of the possible performance of coordinated controlmaneuvres, which can be performed by the provision of the improvedapparatus, as hereinbelow discussed, the follow-up linking of the rudderblades to the steering control means, namely a steering wheel, can beadvantageously made so that a substantial and rather ample action is tobe exerted on said steering means or wheel, for obtaining a rather smallrudder blades deviation, such as the one indicated by angle alpha inFIGS. 5 and 6 (10 to 12 degrees about). As a matter of fact, aprejudiciable overcontrolling of the boat can be prevented if the latterdoes not abruptly react to steering control and gentle turns can be moreeasily made at cruising and maximum speeds.

The well known effects of reverse control (III) will be apparent fromFIGS. 7 to 10. Disregarding now any lateral deviation of the water jet,the effects of the adjustment (that is lowering) of the reversing gate12 are evident: a small lowering of the gate (FIG. 8) such to provide apartial interception of the water jet, will downwardly direct the jet,so that its power A will be downwardly and rearwardly inclined, in thevertical plane, to provide a rearwardly directed horizontal component Arepresentative of the actual propelling force applied to the boat. Suchforce can be adjusted down to zero by further lowering the gate 12, asshown in FIG. 9, S0 that no propelling power will be applied to theboat.

Therefore, the steersman can, by acting on the reverse control (III),adjust the boat speed and acceleration at values lower than the oneprovided by the undeflected actual water jet. In other words, thesteersman can, without throttling the engine (without acting on theengine control (I)) adjust the propelling power from maximum to zero.

Still further lowering the gate 12 from the position of FIG. 9 towardsthe position of FIG. 10, the jet power A is further forwardly deflectedto provide a forwardly directed horizontal component A", that is toprovide a reversed thrust adapted for moving the boat at reverse, forfast deceleration of the boat and any other known maneuvre requiringengine at reverse. At reverse also the actual reverse thrust applied tothe boat can be ad-' justed from maximum to zero by acting on thereverse control (III) only, that is by adjusting the reversing gate 12in the desired lowered position from the position of FIG. 10 to that ofFIG. 9.

COORDINATED CONTROLS AND EFFECTS The effects of coordination of steeringcontrol (II) and of reverse control (III), and possibly of enginecontrol (I), on a motorboat provided with the improved apparatus of thepresent invention, are mostly evidenced by the showing of FIG. 6, whichcan be considered jointly with any one of FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

Assuming that the reversing gate 12 will be at least partially loweredto intercept at least a part of the water jet, and that the rudderblades 10' and 10" will be steered so that the outwardly deviated blade(the blade 10' in FIGS. 2 and 6) will uncover the side edge (at thecorresponding side) of central portion 22 of the reversing gate, a partof the water stream of the jet will be caused to impinge on the sidewardwater deflecting part 24' associated to the gate. Such deflected part ofthe jet will form a lateral jet the power of which is represented byarrow S and the resulting thrust reaction (applied to said deflectingpart 24) will apply to the boat a side thrust capable of rotating theboat about the yawing axis of the hull.

Said lateral jet will be anyway produced at the side at which the rudderblade have been laterally deviated, and therefore it will promote andexpedite a modification of the boat heading concurrently with theheading modification promoted, at forward motion of the boat, by thesteering control (II) which has allowed such lateral jet to be formed(by uncovering of part 24' to water jet impingement) and, therefore, theeffect of the coordinated actions on steering control (II) and onreverse control (III) can be properly termed as a boosting of steeringcontrol (II) on the boat forwardly moving at any speed from top speeddown to zero.

The value of the side thrust obtained by above described coordination ofcontrols is influenced by three parameters, each one of which is underfull steersman control, that is:

(i) The water jet power, controlled by engine control. Irrespectively ofthe relative positions of rudder blades and of reversing gate, if onlypositioned for providing at least some lateral jet, the effect of suchlateral jet is proportional to the power of the actually emitted waterjet issued from the nozzle.

(ii) The amount of the side portion of the water jet, al-

lowed to impinge on the deflecting part 24 (or 24"). Such amount iscontrolled by steering control (II) which governs the spacing at whichthe trailing edge 32' (or 32", FIGS. 2 to 4) uncovers the deflectingpart 24 (or 24"). Such amount is proportional to the amplitude of thesteering control, and such proportionality is very desirable for propersteering of the boat. As a matter of fact, as the boosting of steeringcontrol is also proportional to the lowering of the reversing gate (asdiscussed below), for any given boosting ratio provided by gateadjustment, the response of the boat to steering control (I), eitherboosted or not (gate 12 fully raised, FIG. 7) will be satisfyinglyproportional to the steering of rudder blades, that is to the steeringcontrol (II).

(iii) The vertical amount of the water jet reversed by the reversinggate, which is therefore proportional to the amount caused to impinge oneither deflecting part 24 or 24". Such vertical amount is adjusted byacting on the reverse control (III) and this adjustment is coordinatedwith the adjustment of actual horizontal component of the jet power, asdiscussed above, and it can be further coordinated with engine control(I).

Few examples of the effects which can be obtained by coordination ofcontrols (I), (II) and (III) will make clearly apparent the principalfeatures and advantages of the present invention:

By positioning the rudder blades as shown in FIG. 6 and the reversinggate as shown in FIG. 9, the boat is caused to turn about its yawingaxis on the spot, without any tendency to forward or backward motion,even if such turning of the boat on the spot is insisted to. Therotational speed of the boat about the yawing axis thereof can beadjusted at will by acting on the' engine control.

The combination of positions of FIGS. 6 and 8 provides prompt andsensitive heading control by acting on the steering control alone at lowspeed, that is such combination is exceedingly desirable whenmaneuvering in a crowded harbor, when approaching to mooring or dockingand so on, the raising of gate 12 allowing further prompt accelerationof the boat, if required, with concurrent zeroing of the steeringcontrol boosting effect. Conversely, the further lowering of the gatewill lead to slowing down of the boat and even prompt deceleration, whendesired (by applying the reverse) without spoiling the prompt responseof the boat to the steering control.

The coordinated controls are very effective and useful when the boat issteered and maneuvres are to be made in current water such as in riveror tidal streams, that is where the ground speed of the boat could bedifferent from the water speed thereof. The heading can be easilycontrolled at low speed either moving upstream or downstream.

When the boat is steered in an emergency, such as in a collision route,a sharp turn can be promoted by prompt lowering of the reversing gate(down to provide fast deceleration, if required) subsequently to orconcurrently with the action the steering control, and without reverseturning of the steering wheel, when the gate is lowered fordeceleration, that is when the propelling assembly operates at reverse.

I claim:

1. In a boat having water propelling means including a nozzle adapted toprovide a water jet projecting astern of the boat and motor-driven pumpmeans for delivering a stream of pressurized water through said nozzle,in combination, steering means comprising a pair of steerable rudderblades located astern of said nozzle in the body of water surroundingsaid boat and respectively at opposite sides of the water jet issuingfrom said nozzle, said blades being pivotally supported in substantialparallel relationship with a given distance therebetween for pivotingmovement to either side from a rest position in which said blades extendsubstantially parallel to a longitudinal plane of symmetry of saidnozzle, said blades defining between rear edges and bottom edges thereofopenings through which the water jet may pass in the surrounding body ofwater; means connected to said blades for simultaneously pivoting thesame to either side of said rest position for controlled sidewarddeviation of the water jet passing therebetween; reversing gate meanshaving a jet reversing surface laterally defined within side edgesspaced in transverse direction from each other at a distancesubstantially equal to said given distance and water sidewardlydeflecting surfaces respectively symmetrically located outwardly of saidside edges for laterally deflecting a portion of the water jet whendeviated laterally outside of said side edges upon pivoting of saidblades to either side of said rest position; and means for moving saidsurfaces of said reversing gate means closely adjacent to said rearedges of said blades between an upper end position above said blades, aplurality of intermediate positions in which said surfaces move to anincreasing extent over the opening defined by said rear edges of saidblades so as to force the jet of water to flow at least in part indownward direction through the opening defined between said bottom edgesof said blades, and a lower end position in which said reversing surfaceof said reversing gate means reverses the direction of said jet, wherebya portion of the water jet will be laterally deflected in saidintermediate positions and said lower end positions of said reversinggate means when said blades are pivoted to either side of said restposition to boost the steering action obtained by pivoting said blades.

2. A structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said water sidewardlydeflecting surfaces consist of sidewardly and rearwardly facing surfacespertaining to parts symmetrically located at both sides of said jetreversing surface.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2, wherein said parts are securedto said Water jet reversing gate at both side edges of said water jetreversing surface thereof.

4. The structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said jet reversingsurface of said reversing gate means is of cylindrical configuration,and wherein said gate means is turnable by said moving means about anaxis substantially normal to a vertical plane of symmetry of said nozzleand located above the latter.

5. The structure as defined in claim 4, wherein said rear edges of saidrudder blades are arc-shaped and coaxially arranged with saidcylindrical jet reversing surface and positioned to provide a smallclearance therewith.

6. The structure as defined in claim 1, wherein said transversedimension between said side edges of said jet reversing surface isslightly greater than said given distance.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,064,420 11/1962 Goehler 1l5-12X 3,114,239 12/1963 Aylor 1l512 X TRYGVE M. BLIX, Primary Examiner US.Cl. X.R. 60221

